Tantrum-tastic!

Half of all parents suffer at least one tantrum per day according to new Diono survey!

Parents often feel that that all eyes are on them when their children are kicking off, so parenting travel brand Diono, asked 2000 UK parents with children aged from 18 months to 5 years, for details about their little one’s tantrums, with surprising results.

It’s official, the terrible twos exist! The new Diono survey revealed that when it comes to anger and tears, the adage of the terrible twos is still true. Parents of 18months- two year olds deal with the most tantrums, many (43%) saying that their little ones have two or more a day. There is hope however, as these statistics halve to 20% when little ones reach 4 years.

It’s official “the terrible two’s exist”

Home is where the heart(ache) is! Over 80% of those asked said that their children mainly had tantrums at home, with 43% of parents with 2 year olds saying that it happens twice or more a day!

Tired toddlers = temper tantrums. The most common reason for having a mini-meltdown was tiredness (67%) but strangely only 14% of parents put their little one to bed to deal with a tantrum.

Needy Nation of toddlers. 33% of toddlers will have a tantrum if they can’t have snacks or sweeties!

Ignorance is bliss?! Parents handled tantrums, overwhelmingly by ignoring them. Almost half said they carried on with what they were doing and girls in particular were more often ignored than boys (52% vs 39%). Other key methods were using the naughty step, or distracting the child. Only one person out of 2000 admitted to smacking!

Lucky little Londoners. Children in London were most likely to get what they want from a tantrum (nearly 20% compared to 7% for the rest of the UK) – but that may be because it was more likely to happen on public transport!

Country Calm. The worst area for tantrums is the North East where 78.5% of children had a tantrum more than twice a week. Children in Scotland were the calmest with only 62% having a tantrum more than twice a week and 9% of parents here saying their child never has a tantrum!

Tired Toddlers = Temper Tantrums

The Diono survey revealed that children of Londoners were least likely to tantrum because they were tired (only 48% compared to 75% in the rest of the country), but most likely to tantrum because they didn’t want to go to bed (33% compared with 13% in the rest of the country)! Maybe the bright lights of the city affect us earlier than we thought? Londoners were also most likely to give in and give their children what they asked for to resolve the issue.

Shouting and smacking seem to be somewhat a thing of the past with only 0.5% admitting to smacking and 14% to shouting. Welsh parents were most likely to shout at 20%. Cuddling and talking to their children were predominant when parents were asked for alternative methods to solve the problem.

Children in Scotland were least likely to have a problem in the car, (0.1%), whereas this is one of the worst places for children in London, with (17.5%) having tantrums in the car. Children in Scotland were also least likely to have a tantrum about walking, only 4%, compared to 18% in the East Midlands.

These are among the key findings identified in a Diono survey* conducted across 2000 parents throughout the UK with one or more children aged from 18months – 5years. These statistics demonstrate that although parents may feel embarrassed at their children’s antics, tantrums are completely normal and happen to almost all parents.